As anyone who has tried to shoot video with a DSLR knows, creating a smooth, professional follow-focus motion can be a bit of a nightmare unless you're willing to shell out for high-end equipment, and then deal with lugging it all around. How about a $45 solution that gets amazing results and works on any DSLR lens?

The guys over at Microfacturing are looking to create just that. By using the popular Crowdsourcing website Kickstarter, Microfacturing is looking to gain backing and support from the photo and video community to manufacture and distribute what could be a game-changing product for those of us who are looking to get into video and follow-focus mechanisms for the first time, or for those who might be looking for a small, portable system to take on location.

By using a rubber gasket, the Focus Shifter is able to fit around any commonly-used SLR lens and provide a follow focus motion that is infinitely more stable and accurate than even the steadiest of bare hands. The 'KISS' design approach is readily noticeable, and will certainly be appreciated by those who are looking to work quickly and efficiently.

After viewing the video and checking out some photos, it seems to be a very intuitive and easy to use solution that should appeal to a wide audience. We've seen Kickstarter do some pretty amazing things in the past (the recently-released TriggerTrap was born from Kickstarter) and I know I'd love to see a cheap follow focus solution like this make its way into the market.

If you think this is something that you could see yourself using, head on over to the Kickstarter page and put your name on the preorder list!

Michael Kelley (mpkelley.com) is a Los Angeles-based architectural and fine art photographer with a background in digital art and sculpture. Using his backgrounds in the arts, he creates images that are surreal and otherworldly, yet lifelike and believable. A frequent traveler, Michael's personal work focuses on the built environment of unique

7 Comments

Great for people getting into this kinda stuff. Doubt anyone would prefer using it over a real follow focus in a real production, but seems great if you can't spend too much. You'll probably mostly wanna look at the screen when focusing instead of the marks on the lens.

Also, I doubt the marker board would fit on lenses like the Nikon 18-135, were the focus ring is super close to the body.

Great idea with the funding though. Makes people wanna get on it sooner rather then later.

I will say that I have used the jar opener as well, but I ran into a couple problems. 1) when you put it on large lenses like the 200,300,400mm 2.8 lenses, the tab that keeps the device tight loosens and then your jar opener slides around. 2) it doesnt work very well on lenses with thin focus rings, I couldn't get it to fit on my canon 50mm 1.8. This was a shame because it has such a shallow depth of field it was really the lens I needed it on. 3) no marker board.